The Hopman Cup’s Day Three morning match featured the United States taking on Spain. Both teams started the exhibition tourney strong beating Czech Republic and Australia on Monday. The tie opened with American Coco Vandeweghe against Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena.
Vandeweghe's Power Overwhelms Arruabarrena
The match was a classic demonstration of a counter-punching style vs a power-game. The tone of play was set early with Vandeweghe bullying the Spaniard with her big groundstrokes and especially dominating forehand. She broke serve early to lead 2-0, but her opponent retaliated immediately. Returning well and redirecting the American’s pace, Arruabarrena broke back and leveled the first set. It would only delay the inevitable, however. Vandeweghe’s return and groundstrokes kept Arruabarrena off balance most points and the American took the first set 6-2.
The Californian, always expressive, let errors and frustration set into her game early in the second set. This allowed Arruabarrena to take net and hold serve more often, but again the American’s power would prove too much. Playing with mostly patient aggression, Vandeweghe took the second set 6-4.
Sock Edges Out Lopez
The men’s singles played out quite differently, featuring two exceptional volleyers in Jack Sock and Feliciano Lopez. Both players sport big forehands and strong net games that have boosted them both to win Grand Slam titles in doubles in the past. Lopez, playing his now-unique all-court game that was much more popular in the 90’s, exhibited his game plan right away by charging the net whenever possible. Sock was ready, but perhaps not for the whole set in the Australian heat. Despite an early break, Spain’s constant pressure won them the set 6-3.
Sock would rally in the subsequent sets. His game seemed to wake up, hitting better serves and coming to net more. The Spanish veteran did well to keep pressure on serve, but Sock played the important points better. It was the second set to the US at 6-2. The third set played out similarly, Sock winning 6-3.
US Edges Out Spain In Mixed
The Americans had already won the tie, but the number of sets won could end up deciding who wins Group B. Spain came out to win the mixed doubles match, and all four players played loose. The result was a high quality mixed doubles match that probably left the audience wondering why they were playing a shortened format. Team U.S.A would win 3-4, 4-3, 4-2, cleaning out Spain 3-0 for the tie.
The U.S now leads the group 2-0 and will finish the Round Robin against Australia, who just lost a close match against the Czech Republic to go 0-2. Spain will play the victorious Czechs, hoping for the Americans to lose in order to have a chance at advancing to the championship. Both matches will take place on January 5th.